Report backs green energy cost savings

A NORTH Queensland solar power station generated enough electricity in its first year of production to supply about 26,000 homes, a report shows.

That is the equivalent to about half the homes in Townsville, although the power is intermittent, supplying power only when the sun shines.

Also, the revenue earned from the supply of that electricity shows it is affordable.

The revenue earned by Genex amounted to about 8.8¢ per kilowatt hour.

This compares with the current Ergon retail price of about 28¢kw/h for general tariff 11, not accounting for an additional supply charge of about $1 per day.

These figures have been derived from a December quarter revenue update provided by listed development company Genex Power to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday and provide some of the first insights into renewable energy costs.

The update relates to its 50mw capacity solar farm at Kidston, about 270km northwest of Townsville, the first stage of a much larger renewable energy hub proposed for the site.

Genex CEO James Harding said the output from the farm in the year to December 31 of about 120,000nm/h was around expectations.

Annual production in following years is expected to be more than 140,000mw/h but was lower because the facility was still ramping up in early 2018 following its construction.

“It's a big plant. That (generation) is what we expected,” Mr Harding said.

“It’s enough (electricity) for about 26,000 homes.

Mr Harding said that in a normal year the company expected more than 140,000mw/h.

Electricity generation was impacted in the December quarter by the closure of the plant for almost three days in December during storms associated with Tropical Cyclone Owen

“The plant was closed down for safety reasons,” Mr Harding said.

The update shows the company earned about $14.4 million for the supply of electricity for calendar year 2018.

Mr Harding said the December quarter earnings showed the revenue was an average of about $88/mwh – about 8.8¢kw/h – which was what they expected in the future. This compares with coal-fired power for existing plants sometimes quoted around 6¢mw/h but more than 10¢ for new coal plants.

The need to back up intermittent solar and wind power with dispatchable energy, such as pumped storage hydro that is proposed for Kidston, will add to energy costs.

But the overall costs are still expected to compete with coal without carbon emissions.